Yes. You’ve read that right! Gone are the days when powerhouse networks like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are the only ones that will pop out of your mind when you think about “social media”. Today, messenger apps like Whatsapp and WeChat immediately comes to mind too. It’s no surprise though as messaging apps are what we use to communicate with friends and family in an instant. It’s what most of us use to share articles, videos and links of fun and controversial content, and the “experts” found a way to use them for marketing. In today’s society, how can brands effectively use them? Let’s find out!

Using Whatsapp & WeChat for marketing

Throughout the years, many companies have gone from traditional marketing to social media marketing. Aside from acquiring the top social channels, they also used messaging apps to promote their content.

Let’s take a look at Buzzfeed’s tactic: Buzzfeed is known for flourishing “current” and “trendy” articles for their readers. They mainly use Facebook as their main site for distribution, but time came when they saw the importance of using a messaging app to promote their latest contents; and so they used WeChat.

So how do they do it? Buzzfeed is using WeChat in a unique way to allow their readers to “self-select” the content they want to receive. Basically, they let their followers receive one daily content, but the readers can also use WeChat’s chat functionality to access content based on keywords that triggers auto-replies.

That being said, Buzzfeed is making it easier for their audience to uncover shareable content that they can pass to their family and friends. Smart tactic, right? They used WeChat to get more people to read their contents.

Almost the same technique was used by Absolut Vodkaon Whatsapp: when they launched their Absolut Unique bottle collection, they wanted to get more people to buy.

The plan was to have a party for the launch. The catch is that there were only two invitations available to the public. Anyone planning to get into the party has to go to Whatsapp to contact a virtual bouncer named “Sven” and convince him to give them the access.

The campaign was a success as they generated more than 1,000 unique images, videos, and audio messages people created to convince Sven, and built buzz within the whole community.

Takeaway

Marketing is truly evolving and we all have to go along with it. With all the information above, applications like WhatsApp and WeChat have successfully proven to brands that they are not just a means of communication between users on social media, they can also be an effective marketing tool in today’s fast-paced world.